Changes
by Miali
Summary: Iruka disliked change greatly, for few changes in his life had been for the better. One however, stood out proudly in his memory. Kakashi x Iruka


Title: Changes

Series: Naruto

Author: Miali

Summary: Iruka disliked change greatly, for few changes in his life had been for the better. One however, stood out proudly in his memory. Kakashi x Iruka

Disclaimer: I do not own INSERT SERIES HERE it belongs to INSERT AUTHOR HERE. Otherwise would I be writing INSERT FICTION TITLE HERE?

Iruka's days were always the same, if not very similar. Wake up, teach, mission room, home to grade papers, and finally sleep. All of this with training thrown in whenever possible, and a cup of coffee (with caramel) when necessary. Iruka was content with this; he was never particularly fond of change. Most of the changes in his life had been for the worse, the death of his parents, his scar, the loss of Sasuke, and now the loss of Naruto. However, when asked about the better changes, one thought stood clear in his mind. And the name belonging to that thought was Kakashi.

Iruka had met Kakashi a number of times and he was certainly aware of the Jounin's reputation – Genius of Konoha, son of the White Fang, only surviving student of the Yellow Flash, the list goes on and on. The man had handed in numerous mission reports (usually poorly completed) and Iruka had entrusted his three favorite students into his care. However, Iruka had no fathoming of who Kakashi really was.

---

Iruka looked up from his grading to see a silver-haired, pale-faced, blue-eyed jounin gazing boredly at him. The nin in question raised a gloved hand and gave a brief "Yo," of acknowledgement, never blinking or taking his attention off of the chocolate-haired chuunin. Iruka nearly jumped as he noticed the other man and a bright pink color spread across his face from the center of his scar to the tips of his cheeks.

"O-ohayo, Kakashi-san," Iruka stuttered to the unblinking jounin, "Have you been here long?"

"Long enough," was the simple, casual response of the jounin, who smiled beneath his mask at the chuunin's chameleon-like color-changing ability.

"Ah –" Iruka paused for a brief moment, "Was there something you wanted?" Tanned hands shuffled the students' homework nervously, disliking the stare he was receiving by the jounin.

"Naruto chatters incessantly about you," Kakashi replied in a calm, bored manner, "And I wanted to know what the fuss was all about. Even Sakura and Sasuke seem to like you."

Iruka smiled and blushed a little deeper, glad to not have been forgotten by his students. The chuunin stood and began to distribute the graded homework, leaving them on the tables for the children. As he walked throughout the room, he could feel the penetrating stare of the senior nin. Uncomfortable, he began to speak, "Ah, that's good I –"

Iruka was cut off by a blunt, simple sentence from the jounin.

"I don't see what's so interesting."

Iruka's eyebrow rose at the insult and he turned slowly after placing the last paper upon the student's desk. His voice was calm and very cold as he spoke, "Is that so?" He asked politely.

The tone of the teacher's voice would have struck fear into the heart of any of Iruka's students, current or otherwise. Kakashi, however, for all his genius, did not see what was coming next. Not even the infamous sharingan would have saved the jounin from the wrath of the angry chuunin. Luckily for Kakashi, the bell chose the brief moment of silence as its cue to toll. Iruka stepped forward and said quickly to Kakashi, "Meet me in the mission room at five and we shall discuss this further."

The jounin disappeared with no intention of keeping to the order.

As the children entered the classroom, they quieted quickly and sat in silence, the icy aura of death still emanating from the schoolteacher. The rest of his classes that day went more smoothly than normal.

---

The school day ended and Iruka made his way to the mission room, still more than a little irked. The jounin had noticed a change in the chuunin's attitude when he handed back more incomplete mission reports than usual. The jounin sat about the room correcting their errors, not allowed to leave until the reports were turned in. As they sat however, they were not silent. Konoha ninja had a large reputation for gossip and today was no exception.

The topics of the day ranged from Asuma and Kurenai's "secret" relationship, to why Iruka was so nippy. Suggestions such as "bad day in class" and "dumped by his girlfriend" had come up repeatedly, but none of the jounin could guess correctly.

When five o'clock rolled around, Iruka was still steaming and Kakashi was nowhere to be seen. Another half hour passed, followed by another hour. Iruka turned to the chuunin at the next desk and asked her to watch his place for a while. She nodded and Iruka left the office, intent on finding the jounin and settling this once and for all.

As Iruka wandered down the streets of Konoha, he attracted the attention of a silver-haired ninja who decided to track the schoolteacher.

It had begun to rain, a light sprinkling falling from the clouds overhead. However, the rains quickly grew stronger, to the point of a full-blown end of spring storm. Iruka was normally fond of the rain, but now it became more of a hindrance, limiting his vision and soaking his clothes. After a good two hours of searching, Iruka sat on a bench beneath a streetlight, exhausted. He had covered every inch of Konoha and still come up empty-handed. His elbows resting on his knees, he set his head in his hands and thought as the raindrops dripped from his hair to the ground.

"Maybe Kakashi-san's right," He muttered aloud, "There really isn't anything about me. I'm a lowly chuunin, barely above the genin I teach. I'm not any good on missions and I let my emotions get in the way of being a ninja –" Iruka was interrupted by a shadow in the lamplight.

"Yo. Sorry I'm late, I -"

Iruka stood and blinked slowly at the jounin before turning and walking toward his apartment. Kakashi followed slowly behind him. After winding through Konoha, Iruka finally reached the metal steps that led up to his apartment. As he climbed, he fumbled with his pocket searching for his keys.

Kakashi stood on the steps below looking up at the Chuunin who was muttering to himself about leaving his keys in the mission room.

"Ne, Iruka-sensei…"

"They're on top of my bag, in the mission room… Which is locked now…" Iruka was still muttering to himself as he sat down on his steps.

"Iruka-sensei," The chuunin looked up at the silver-haired man, "You're staying with me tonight." Kakashi stated this fact simply and left no room for argument. _It's the least I can do to apologize_. The underlying meaning was not lost on the chuunin, who nodded, his wet hair falling and clinging to his face.

---

Kakashi's apartment was warm in temperature, but cool in everything else. It had the feel of a hotel room, very plain and containing only the necessities. There was a kitchen complete with stove, microwave, and fridge. A small coffee table, a couch, and a bookshelf filled with the most personal thing as far as Iruka could see: A collection of well-worn audaciously orange books.

The schoolteacher grimaced at the bookshelf and slipped off his shoes before stepping into the apartment and getting a better look around. The walls were a soft yellow color – probably the original color of the apartment, and the rug was a simple tan. Nothing was necessarily organized but it didn't matter considering the jounin was rarely home. Iruka was interrupted from his thoughts by said jounin ushering him into another room.

Kakashi walked across the carpeted floor of his bedroom and folded down a couple of pictures, leaving their stands sticking up into the air. The only one left upright was that of the jounin and his genin team, a cute picture of the foursome. As the jounin walked back out into the main room of the apartment he glanced at Iruka.

"There are some clothes in the bottom drawer you can wear, and the bathroom is the next room over if you wish to take a shower… I'm going to go make dinner."

Iruka nodded and raised an eyebrow at the thought of Kakashi cooking before shaking it off and opening the bottom drawer of the dresser. The chuunin pulled out a soft pair of pants but couldn't find a shirt to wear. He was tempted to go through the other drawers but decided against invading the jounin's privacy. In actuality, he was more afraid of what he would find within the dresser.

Stepping out of Kakashi's room, Iruka made his way into the bathroom and shut the wooden door behind him.

"Maa, Iruka-sensei," Kakashi's voice was dull through the door, which Iruka opened a bit. "Could you give me your wet clothes?" Iruka was startled for a moment before Kakashi continued, "So I can dry them for you… It'll take awhile though." Iruka nodded and closed the door before quickly removing his clothes and wrapping himself in a towel before stepping out into the apartment. He handed the wet clothes to Kakashi before quickly disappearing back into the bathroom which was soon followed by the sound of running water.

Kakashi smiled slightly under his mask as he continued preparing the food.

---

Iruka emerged from the shower a short while later with a light pink flush across his skin from the heat. He was wearing the jounin's pants which surprisingly fit him well and were quite comfortable. His sable hair fell down over his shoulders and lightly down his back due to the lack of hair tie, which was among his other clothes in the dryer.

"There –ah, weren't any shirts in the drawer," Iruka murmured as Kakashi finished with the meal and gestured for Iruka to sit by the coffee table.

"Oh, sorry about that… I don't have many, and they're in the wash…" Iruka nodded and the two sat in an awkward silence as they waited for the ramen to cool. The chuunin glanced around the apartment again and as his gaze wandered past the jounin he realized that Kakashi was no longer wearing his flack jacket, and was looking at him intently once again.

"W-what?" Iruka stuttered under the sharp stare of the single blue eye. He briefly wondered how intimidating the jounin appeared when he stared with the infamous sharingan but was interrupted by the jounin's ungloved hand brushing a few strands of chocolate hair out of the chuunin's face.

"Where did you get that scar?" Kakashi asked quietly as he watched the blush spread from Iruka's nose outward. Iruka blinked rapidly and Kakashi continued, "I know you tell other people it happened during the Kyuubi incident, but that's not really what it was, is it?" The jounin traced a pale finger across Iruka's scar and down the side of his cheek, ignoring the deer caught in the headlights look he was getting from the chuunin.

Iruka swallowed. The jounin had seen through the probable lie that everyone else believed, so it wouldn't do any good to lie to him now. "Ah… You really don't want to know about that…"

"Yes, I do." Kakashi cut the other ninja off quickly, finding this was a topic he was actually interested in. It had to be pretty good, otherwise the chuunin wouldn't be fumbling over this so much.

"All right, I'll tell you, but on one condition: You must honestly, and completely, answer one question of mine as well." Kakashi nodded.

---

And so there you have it - a new fanfiction. I'm not quite sure how far this one will get... I don't really have much of a plan for it.

I got attacked by plot bunnies today, so I have at least two more to put up within the week. (They're only one-shots so don't worry about my lack of updating) And of course there's the next chapter in Plushie-no-jutsu which is currently planned out. (But not yet on paper)

Thanks again to all of my reviewers -- I love you! 3


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